


Hold On, Darling

by doctormelody



Category: The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-14
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-30 11:13:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3934690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctormelody/pseuds/doctormelody
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The immediate aftermath of the wedding, told from Caroline's perspective.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hold On, Darling

  
You're the reason that I feel so strong  
The reason that I'm hanging on  
You know you gave me all the time  
Oh, did I give enough of mine? 

_Hold on, darling_  
This body is yours,  
This body is yours and mine  
Well hold on, my darling  
This mess was yours,  
Now your mess is mine. 

It was sad how easy this was for her at this point.  
  
That’s what Caroline was thinking as she slid into the passenger seat of Stefan’s car. He’d opened the door for her before speeding around to the other side, getting in, starting the engine. Maybe he had opened his door with a little too much force. Her hands were definitely shaking a little as she unzipped her purse to use her (miraculously still functional) phone to call Bonnie. Neither of them panicked. Why would they? Crisis, death, violence – it was amazing the things you could get used to, given enough time.  
  
The phone rang and rang as they sped along the empty, winding country road, doing 80, easy. There weren’t enough cops left in their county to object. Caroline felt her stomach twist sharply at that revelation. She ignored it.  
  
“Bonnie’s not picking up.” She said it in the softest voice possible, so as not to startle Stefan, who was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that, had he been human, she would have been concerned for his circulation.  
  
“Try Matt,” Stefan replied. His voice was clipped. His eyes never strayed from the road.  
  
Caroline took his suggestion. When there was no answer, she started to feel slightly sick. She didn’t bother informing Stefan. She knew he had heard. Caroline’s breath was coming harder now. She could feel her façade beginning to break. It was all becoming real.  
  
“Oh my God, they weren’t at the wedding. Why weren’t they at the wedding, Stefan? I mean, I noticed, but I didn't think anything was wrong because, oh, I don't know! Where are they? What could have happened to them? How could I be so stupid?”  
  
“You had a lot on your plate,” Stefan answered. She could feel the tension in his quick, worried glance. She couldn’t bear to look at him.  
  
“Yeah, that was my excuse last time Bonnie was missing! And now Matt’s not answering either, and poor Jo, and…”  
  
She couldn’t say Elena’s name. From Stefan’s silence, she knew he understood. His gaze never strayed from the road, but for the third time that day, his hand reached out for hers. This time, she let him hold it.  
  
  
It didn’t take long to get to the hospital, though Damon had beaten them there, of course. When his blood had failed to revive Elena, he had screamed for Stefan, and they’d come running. Stefan, ever logical, had quietly checked for a pulse, which was there, faint but regular.  
  
“We need to get her to a hospital,” Stefan had said, his hand on his frantic brother’s shoulder. Damon had nodded once, briefly, and without further ado, gathered Elena into his arms and disappeared. When they entered the parking lot, the Camaro was gone, so Caroline was unsurprised to see it parked haphazardly in the driveway of the urgent care lane.  
  
Stefan guided the car into a spot near the ER doors, letting it idle for a moment before shutting it off, just staring at the Camaro with an unreadable expression on his face. Then he got out of the car, and Caroline figured she had better do the same. None of her subsequent calls to Matt or Bonnie had been successful. She opened the door, stood, and found herself face to face with Stefan.  
  
Despite the fact that they’d been in remarkably close quarters in the car, she still found his proximity startling. Looking into his face was like stepping onto a minefield. It was no longer unreadable. She could see the buried anguish there, becoming more prevalent with each passing moment. She suspected a similar story was written on her own features.  
  
Caroline broke their eye contact, and Stefan, as if awaking from a trance, stepped back to allow her to shut the door. Once she did, she glanced toward the hospital. She knew she should be rushing towards those double doors. But she couldn’t, not yet. Instead, she set her phone down and leaned, shaking, against the window of the car.  
“I’m sorry, I know we should go inside, I just…”  
  
The words she needed to say hung taut in the space between them. Stefan understood in a heartbeat. She could feel him looking at her even with her head in her hands.  
“You haven’t been in a hospital since…”  
  
Caroline shook her head. The tears were there, behind her eyelids. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky, blinking, willing them not to fall.  
  
“Caroline,” Stefan’s voice was soft. The care in it had been her ruin once before. Strange, how gentleness could break you.  
  
She wouldn’t do that again, though. She had promised herself. She tore her gaze away from the stars. She made herself look at him.  
  
He blazed brighter than every one of them, even in his grief. Such immeasurable sadness to wear so lightly on a beautiful face. And somehow, there was still room for empathy there. His concern was evident in every line of his body, and in that moment, Caroline surrendered. She wasn’t sure who moved first, but the space between them disappeared in an instant. His arms closed around her waist in the same instant that she threw hers around his neck, and she felt herself draw breath sharply. A long exhale followed the gasp as she steadied herself against his shoulders, and one of his hands reached up to cradle her head, and for a moment, they simply held one another.  
  
When they drew apart, Caroline could feel the tears on her face. With a seemingly infinite amount of tenderness, Stefan reached up and brushed them away. Then he grasped her hand, their fingers interlocking. She straightened up, and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. Then, with clearer eyes, they walked toward the double doors together.


End file.
